#100 100TH CHAPTER (Talk, talk and talk)

"..." Everyone was completely silent while looking at us in disbelief, only the sound of the wind gently blowing through the track, making everyone's shirts flap in the wind.

---

'What kind of position is that?!' Kei thought while glaring at the sight of Felix tenderly holding Mii-chan in the position most suitable for a kiss. However, this was just the creation of her own imagination, in truth, Felix simply caught her and stopped her from falling down, there was no tenderness in his touch because there was no time for him to even involve such element in such critical situation.

...

"..." Sae-chan who also saw this just silently kept watching with a blank expression and her expression never changed, however, her mind was also blank. She didn't know what to think about this...

'...Why do I feel slightly jealous of that small girl? No...I can't think like that.' Sae-chan shook her head with a disappointed expression, however, there was still a longing feeling hidden deep inside her.

---

"Ehm, sorry..." I awkwardly said with a blank face when Mii-chan finally regained her footing.

"N-no, I- I overreacted. I am sorry!" Mii-chan said and tried to bow to me but I quickly stopped her by placing my hand on her shoulder.

"?!" She was slightly started by my sudden touch so I quickly pointed down at our tied up legs. If she were to lose balance again then the incident would repeat itself.

"I am sorry, let me-" She was really panicking and it was visible on her expression and on her voice too.

*sigh* Let's try my new quite reliable tactic.

"Stop it and calm down. Just look at me." I stopped her from kneeling down and forced her to look straight into my eyes.

---

'...Such calm eyes...and here I am panicking, embarrassing myself once again. *Sigh* This was only an accident, nothing serious, I should calm down as well. After all, I don't want to make a scene here in public.' Mii-chan thought and slowly calmed down her raging emotions inside her, however, even though she herself admitted it being an accident, she couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Not to mention that Felix's calmness also slightly frustrated her.

'...Can he even get embarrassed? If yes, what kind of girl can make it happen?' Mii-chan thought while curiously observing Felix's calm expression.

---

When I finally noticed that she calmed herself down, I motioned to her to stay put and I kneeled down to untie the rope connecting our legs.

"You two, haah, you were amazing! haah" Ichinose approached us with a wide smile while gasping for air.

"Yeah, that was really incredible! I didn't know that you have such good synergy between yourselves but now I understand why!" Shibata also joined in and nudged me with a particular smile across his face.

"Eh, please don't make this even more uncomfortable for us...It was just an accident." I said with a helpless expression, just when I was able to calm Mii-chan down, they had to come.

"Oho? Was it?" Ichinose asked with a knowing smile while looking at Mii-chan.

"Ah, of course..." Mii-chan was slightly surprised when Ichinose turned her attention to her but she still answered with a slightly disappointed expression that escaped everyone's detection. Except for Ichinose who could feel that something was wrong with her answer.

"Hmm, okay!" At first, she looked at me, thoughtfully observing my expression for a while before turning back to Mii-chan with a smile.

"...By the way, what was that? Do you have any problems with Class C?" Ichinose who was really paying any attention to what had happened before was still able to deduce that something fishy had happened. And considering that the last pair to finish their race was from Class C with the enormous delay, she was able to easily confirm her deduction.

"Em-" Mii-chan who saw a potential new ally, instantly wanted to speak out but I quickly interrupted her.

"No, something like this had happened for the first time...They were constantly arguing so their synergy was really bad and in the end, they tripped and blocked our path a bit. Badly timed coincidence but thankfully we were still able to win so I hold no grudge against them." I said with a smile and a clueless expression.

"Hmm, I see. I am really sorry for not being able to help you but I will try to investigate this maybe I will find out something." She said while suspiciously looking at me.

Huh? Didn't I just say that it was a coincidence? Why would she try to investigate it? Is this her plan to make me carelessly talk?

"Huh? Why are you apologizing? I don't see any reason why you should...it was a coincidence after all or are you saying that it wasn't a mere coincidence?" I slightly frowned and glanced at the duo who interrupted us during the race.

"...I am not sure but I am positively sure that if it wasn't a mere coincidence then it wasn't their idea. As I said, I will try and investigate it." She still looked slightly skeptical when she heard my sudden realization of the meaning behind her previous words but she let it be and no longer tried to fool me with her twisted words.

"Alright, thank you for taking care of us even though we aren't exactly allies right now."

"Yes, thank you a lot, Ichinose-san!"

Both I and Mii-chan thanked Ichinose and left the track area to return to our tent.

When we came back to our tent, everyone congratulated to us. I and Mii-chan quickly parted ways because she was almost instantly dragged away by her female friends while pleading them to stop. She even gave me a few pleading looks but I played it as if I hadn't noticed them. I don't even want to know what they want to talk about but I already feel sorry for Mii-chan.

When I wanted to go sit down somewhere remote, I noticed Horikita with Sudo but that wouldn't be enough to garner my attention since Sudo like hanging our around her but what garnered my attention was Horikita's way of walking.

She was dragging her left leg on the ground and was trying her best not to apply too much pressure at it. There was definitely something wrong with her.

Although I already had an idea what exactly was wrong with her, I still decided to send a bit of energy into my eyes to see more details.

When the yellow circle appeared inside my eyes and after a while of observing her left leg, everything became clear to me.

Now I fully understand...She will be able to participate for the rest of the universal contests but her injury will only worsen each race and she will be forced to retire before the recommended contests will start.

I decided to approach them.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a moment, Horikita-san?" I asked with an indifferent expression.

"Hm? Well..." She turned at me, surprised by my sudden approach, after all, I rarely came to her. It was usually her approaching me.

She looked in annoyed way at Sudo who was standing strong next to her as a bodyguard.

"Sudo-kun...Can you? It's really important." I turned my attention at him and asked him with still an apathetic face.

"Eh, well...*sigh* Alright, I trust you so make sure that nothing happens to her. You hear me, Walker-kun?!" He seemed reluctant to leave Horikita's side but after a while of consideration, he said those words and left us alone.

"Well, that was sweet" I said with a forced smile while observing Sudo's slowly leaving back. Unfortunately too sweet...

"More like annoying. Anyway...What's the problem?" She folded her arms with an annoyed expression while also observing his back but after a while, she turned at me with a puzzled expression.

"What happened to your leg?" I frankly asked her and she looked a bit surprised for a moment before frowning down a bit.

"Nothing is wrong with my leg." She simply replied.

"Is that so? So you aren't in pain and in no need of help?" I asked her with an amused smile.

"That's right." She stubbornly said.

"Well, I guess there is nothing to be done, I wanted to try something out and potentially help you with your injury but it seems that I was wrong but be careful, if any teacher will discover that you are actually injured, you could even be forced to retire. Fortunately, it seems that I just misunderstood the situation..." I said with a smile and turned around, ready to leave.

"W- wait!" I heard her anxious and almost pleading voice behind me and I couldn't help but slyly smile.

"Hm? What is it?" I turned at her with a questioning expression.

"Well...I might feel a small pain when I take steps with my left leg. Do you really have a way how to stop the pain?" She asked me dubiously.

I knew that she wouldn't be able to resist this temptation even if the chance seemed extremely small, she didn't want to retire because the school would also take all of the points she has won. Not to mention her stubbornness and her pride, she wouldn't want to drag our class down.

"I take it that you didn't report this to teachers and also didn't go to medical staff for a checkup, right?" I wanted to make sure before promising anything to her. I didn't even bother to ask her what happened to her because the word about her performance in the obstacle race was already spread out. It's unfortunate that she didn't seriously listen to my warning...even Mii-chan was able to avoid all troubles that came her way.

"Of course not...Why would I?" She said while looking at me with a strange look in her eyes.

"Okay, I might have a way how to treat your leg but it will need to wait until lunch break because there is no time for me to deal with this. But I can take a look at your leg if it's something serious that will quickly worsen or if it's something you can endure until I will try to treat it." I explained to her with an apathetic expression.

When she heard my words, she was definitely dubious of them and kept on observing my expression.

"...*sigh* Alright, what do I need to do? Is there any catch? Do I need to do something for you?" After a while of thinking in silence, she decided to accept my offer and started bombarding me with numerous questions.

"There isn't any catch...only that I am not sure if it will work out but if yes, there is a big chance that your pain will entirely disappear and don't you worry, there are no such things as a side effect or whatever. I also don't want anything from you except for you to sit down here." I said with a stern look and pointed at the nearest bench.

"..." She didn't say anything but she had a displeased expression on her face which indicated that she didn't like being ordered around, however, she still did what I said and sat down on that bench still with her arms folded.

"Take off your left shoe." I told her.

"What?!" She exclaimed with a displeased expression and furrowed brows.

"I said that I will check on your leg, you can keep your socks on. Just take your shoe off so we can be done with it quickly." I rolled my eyes in annoyance and said in a tired tone.

"...But what if someone sees this?" She asked while glancing around in a cautious way.

"Most of the people are too focused on watching others compete and even if a few people will notice something, you are able to make up an excuse." I reassured her once again and she finally decided to take off her shoe.

I crouched down and gently took hold of her ankle.

"Mm!!" She released a low groan of pain.

"Hmm" I started pressing at certain points on her leg to make it look as if I was really checking something but in truth, I already knew most of what I needed to know. But that didn't mean that I couldn't take a better look even though I didn't need it.

Every time I pressed on the certain points I suspected to be the source of pain she always released a low groan of pain.

...It seems that I was able to see everything with my eyes from quite a big distance. Well, distance doesn't really matter, what matters is that I was able to see the points where the pain originates from without any touching or close inspection. I would say, quite precise eyes and they should be since they are consuming a lot of energy in a short time.

"Ehm, are you done?" She asked me with an impatient expression.

"Yep!" I let go of her leg and let her put her left shoe on.

"Did you actually discover anything?" She asked me, still with a dubious expression. I can bet that if I told her that I was just joking, she would actually skin me alive.

"You will be able to complete remaining contests before the lunch break but you will still have to endure a great amount of pain. After that...well let's say that you should pray that my treatment will work." I told her with a serious expression while frowning down.

"...That' more serious than I thought...Did you learn that also from your master?" She muttered with an absent-minded expression and she couldn't hide her curiosity about my knowledge. She must have let me check on her leg just because of what I have told her about my past. She saw a small chance of success so she decided to try it out.

"Well...I had to check on my own wounds regularly so I know a bit about a few things. But instead of some formal names, I rather know what to do about wounds than naming them or describing what exactly happened to the body. If there is nothing else, I will be leaving, I still have to attend another three-legged race due to Koenji's absence." I said and prepared to leave.

"I see...thanks. I hope your treatment will work if it's as serious as you have mentioned." She thanked me without even looking at me and to be honest, I was still slightly surprised to hear that word come out of her mouth.

I will need to quickly experiment with my energy on some animals during the launch break but if my theory is right, I should be able to actually heal her injury and if it's true, I will just have to make it look like a complicated process not to appear too suspicious.

...

"Are you ready for the three-legged race?" I asked Kei with a smile.

"...No!" She looked at me and said in an upset tone while turning her head away from me to show that she is ignoring me.

"...*sigh*" I just sighed at this sight but I slowly smiled because it was evident from her tightly clenched fist that she was more than ready...